Tag: Animals

Sunday July 13th, 2008 we headed out to GPS map the 4W613 Adjacent Trails at the Ahtanum for the Department of Natural Resources. We also had to move some down trees on 4W613. This is the first time we had a chance to work on the northeast section of 4W613 since we officially adopted it. Waycrazy & Bubz rode with me in the Tweety Jeep. Colemancooler was in his Toyota pickup.

We aired down at Nasty Creek Corrals and headed up Nasty Creek Road. On the way up we found deer in the road. They watched us for awhile before running off.

First we GPS Mapped the short cut everyone runs to the Strobach Mountain 4×4 Trail. We continued on Nasty Creek Road to the Louie Way Gap turnoff. This is the access road to the trailheads of Louie Way Gap. 1127 (single track), 4W608 and 4W613. A very inportant thing to add to the DNR Green Dot system.

Down at the three Trail Heads, we found the 4W608 Trail Marker was broken off. We fix it and then headed up 4W613.

We stopped at the Louie Way View Point. It is a nice view of Rimrock Lake and Mt Rainier.

We headed on up 4W613 and had to stop to fix part of the trail around the corner on a climb. Since we were already parked, we walked up to take a look off the cliff.

Next we GPS mapped the Strobach Mountain Vista. Another great place to see Rimrock Lake and Mount Rainier. There was a big forest fire many miles south of us. I believe the cloud is the Cold Springs fire.

We stopped at the 4W613 Upper Meadow near Dome Peak for lunch. We walked down to see some over grown 4×4 trails.

Next we headed through the Dome Peak fire area. We took the Dome Peak to GPS map it. We GPS mapped the trail to the end and then took a hike to the top of Dome Peak.

At the top of Dome Peak was a monument missing a plaque. I wonder what was written on it. The concrete says it was put there on my 16th birthday. There is also a survey marker from 1966.

We took in the views and then headed back down to the rigs. We turned around to backtrack the Dome Peak 4×4 Trail and Colemancooler looked like he came close to flopping it since we parked in a steep place.

Back on 4W613, we stopped to let my dogs out to drink some cool spring water. My small dog Pepper found some cow manure to roll in.

We continued on 4W613 through the are we worked on the day before. We turned down Jackass Road. Down near the last section of Jackass Road, we turned down the “Sylvester” 4×4 trail that we needed to GPS Map. Colemancooler had to get home and headed down the last section of Jackass Road.

We ran this 4×4 trail down to the Ahtanum North Fork. As soon as Waycrazy got everything logged into the GPS, we when down to the creek to let the dogs swim.

This was a very fun day.

Note: Please do not take any trail at the Ahtanum State Forest unless you see it has a Green Dot or Forest Service Trail Marker. You could get a fine for driving on non-marked trails without DNR approval. Trails are only post OPEN not all closed trails are posted closed.

99’s Getting Out of the Heat Run at Ahtanum State ForestHosted by Eastern Washington Off RoadReport by Clay Graham. Photos by Clay Graham / Eastern Washington Off Road

On June 29th, 2008 it was very hot in the Yakima Valley so my wife, AKA 99 wanted to drive up to the Ahtanum State Forest hoping it would be cooler.

We took the South Fork Ahtanum Road (A1000) and then ran Boulder Trail up to the stop of Sedge Ridge. We stopped on the Sedge Ridge Road so people could air down more.

Test Dummy rig started having fuel pump problems so he headed back down. The rest of us turned down A2420 and then on A2400 to the Ahtanum Sno-park.

Next we went up the Mid Fork Ahtanum Road (A2000) and onto the Whites Ridge Loop Trail (A2600). We took the Whites Ridge 4×4 Trail up and then turned down the McLaine Canyon Road (A3300), then went up the North Fork Ahtanum Road (A3000).

On the way up the North Fork Ahtanum Road, I took some photos of the snow on Darland Mountain.

Next we ran the Blue Lake Trail onto 4W615 and stopped at Blue Lake for the kids to get out to play. The bugs were bad so we headed on up 4W615 to the Blue Slide Lookout. My kids had fun playing up there.

After a short break we headed on down FS1020. We stopped for some quick photos of Rimrock Lake from Foundation Ridge.

Here we ran into a big snow drift. I got stuck because of the Swabbie tires on the family XJ. Tiny also got stuck. Roll Over came to the rescue and pulled us out with his MJ.

On down FS1020, we stopped to regroup at 4W613. That is were the road changes numbers from FS1029 to A2300 aka Jackass Road.

Next we turned of Jackass Road onto A5000. As we were heading down toward the Nasty Creek Corrals, the weather turned. There was a lot of lightening. We saw lightening hit and start a fire. I think it was on the ridge Southwest of Sedge Ridge. We moved on down to a cattle closed gate. There must of been cows grazing in the area.

We stopped to see why there were beers a long the trail. It was a marker for Papa Bud. Does anyone know the Papa Bud’s story? Maybe the marker was his hunting spot?

We finely got out on the phone to call about the fire. Sparky’s dad had already called the DNR. They could see the fire from there house in Tampico.

Before we hit the bottom of the mountain, there was a deer standing next to the trail as we drove by.

This was a real fun run thanks to the people that came.

Here are some photos of 99’s Getting Out of the Heat Run at Ahtanum State Forest:

Due to the closed signs on the Mid Fork Ahtanum we decided to see if the other roads and trails where open. So on April 9th, 2007 BSLM came and picked me up in his Blazer and we headed up.

We made it up to the Grey Rock Trailhead (the snow level) on the North Fork and did not see any closed signs. Next we headed up Jackass. We turned around at the snow level which was at A2320. Next we took A2400 over Sedge Ridge. We never saw a closed sign on those Roads/Trails.

In Tampico BSLM had to add some airing after his wheeling trip.

Next we headed up to BSLM’s land from Nasty Creek and out the other side near Cowiche Mill Road. There were a lot of elk grazing. We ran Cowiche Mill and came back out Nasty Creek.

This was a real fun trip even though I yelled “Dude, there’s a cliff” once as we were sideways in the snow.